A Television (or TV for short) refers to a large (and sometimes small) device that is used for watching shows and news and for playing video games (although they require the use of a console, like the Playstation 3, Playstation 2 and Playstation 1 in order to achieve this). In relation to the Grand Theft Auto series, the TV has long been a traditional "platform" for GTA games (although they require the use of a console in order to play them on the TV).

Contents

Description

Pre-GTA IV

Televisions appear in-game in the Grand Theft Auto series although they have by large been non-interactive props (although they might be animated in cutscenes and certain missions); in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, however, televisions of various forms can be stolen from homes in the burglary side-mission. Various TV shows have also been advertised in GTA III, GTA Vice City, GTA San Andreas, GTA Liberty City Stories and GTA Vice City Stories but are usually unseen. The ability to watch TV was first trialed in GTA Vice City Stories, where the player can watch mission cutscenes with the TV in The Clymenus Suite.

GTA IV

Grand Theft Auto IV introduced the ability to watch television shows in most safehouses, although this feature is largely useless in actual gameplay and is more of a minor feature used to pass time.

Televisions in Grand Theft Auto IV appear as interactive devices that allowing the player to watch television shows, although they have very little bearing to actual gameplay. Each safehouse in in GTA IV has a television, as is the case in GTA IV's episodic packs, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony; in TLAD however, access to televisions becomes unavailable upon completion of the storyline as only one safehouse, which is disabled in the end, is the only location where a television should be available.

The design of the safehouses' televisions in both GTA IV and its episodes vary according to the condition of the safehouse. Shabby safehouses often feature olden CRT televisions which also have television channels that are purely static; more upscale housing are usually equipped with widescreen LCD/plasma televisions that are either freestanding or wall-mounted.

Each Television allows the player to watch up to three simultaneously running channels (Weazel, CNT, and the Public Broadcasting Corporation); however, the channels are not numbered, so finding a show is more or less coincidental. Most of the shows are running time-shifted, so while "I'm Rich" may be almost over on one channel, for example, it may just start on another.

The feature is carried over to its episodic titles, including The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, with new shows and advertising added in. However, depending on whether the player opted for downloading episodic DLC or obtaining Episodes from Liberty City, the availability of shows and ads from GTA IV in both episodic titles, like radio stations, varies between DLCs and Episodes from Liberty City:

In DLCs, existing programming and advertising from GTA IV and a DLC purchased earlier will be present in the new episodic title, and vice versa.

In EFLC, only programming and advertising from TLAD and TBOGT will be available in both episodic titles, as much of GTA IV's content is not included in the stand-alone compilation.

GTA IV Era

GTA V

In the mission Friend Request, after fitting an explosive device into the prototype Lifeinvader phone, Michael De Santa has to go to his home to watch Jay Norris' live presentation. As he reveals the phone, Michael calls Jay Norris from his phone, answers it and the phone explodes to his head, killing him.

Notes

There is a glitch in The Lost and Damned that allows you to watch the TV even after the end of the game. Take a helicopter and land on the roof of Lost MC Clubhouse. Walk around to where the TV would be inside just under the roof, and you will be prompted to watch the TV. If you do this there is only 2 ways to get outside of the clubhouse: kill yourself, or reload an old save file. This glitch is fixed on Episodes from Liberty City.